The Takedown Parent Guide
Familiar, bland, and a little icky, this action comedy is unable to find a balance between action and humor.
Parent Movie Review
Ousmane Diakite (Omar Sy) has made the most out of his career with the French National Police, and now works as a section chief in the Criminal division. His former partner, Francois Monge (Laurent Lafitte), on the other hand, has been stuck as a lieutenant in the rundown 12th Precinct, and is facing a litany of complaints from his fellow officers regarding his casual, self-obsessed, and unprofessional behaviour.
Despite their different career trajectories, Diakite and Monge must learn to work together again after a bisected body is found on a train. The investigation leads them to a small provincial town, where local officer Alice (Izia Higelin) is assigned to help them get to the bottom of the murder. Every clue they find points to a much, much larger conspiracy, one with ties to drug trafficking, local politics, and domestic terrorism.
Action comedies walk a tricky line between genres. Too funny and you lose all the intensity you want in an action movie, too intense and the humor feels like an afterthought. For me, this film has an additional challenge: French humor. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it absolutely does not work for me. It always comes off feeling a little too cartoonish, and in this film, it derails the action. This is a movie about violent, meth-fueled, racist bigots, so constantly transitioning between fighting white supremacists and goofy gags really kills both elements for me.
Even if the humor works for you, the content details are not going to be a winner with parents. The violence is fairly toned down, apart from the vividly halved body which sparks the investigation. Then there’s the scene which features investigators using a dipstick to examine the dead guy’s genitalia, which is one of the grosser things I’ve seen on screen lately. Accurate? Sure, that’s part of a murder investigation, you have to fully examine a body. Enjoyable? No. Especially not when the character later absentmindedly puts that dipstick in his mouth like a toothpick.
Familiar, bland, and a little icky, The Takedown doesn’t have too much going for it. I enjoyed parts of the relationship between our buddy cop heroes, but not nearly enough to compensate for the uninspired plot and weird humor. On the other hand, it’s sitting at #3 on Netflix right now, so maybe I’m the odd one out – but whether you like the film or not, there’s still more nudity and profanity than you’re going to want for a young audience.
Directed by Louis Leterrier. Starring Omar Sy, Laurent Lafitte, Izia Higelin. Running time: 119 minutes. Theatrical release May 6, 2022. Updated January 12, 2024
The Takedown
Rating & Content Info
Why is The Takedown rated TV-MA? The Takedown is rated TV-MA by the MPAA for language, violence, nudity and gore
Violence: People are injured in an illegal fighting ring. A man is non-fatally shot in the leg. A bisected corpse is seen. A man is tazered and dies of heart failure. A character is decapitated.
Sexual Content: Characters examine a dead man’s genitals in the context of a murder investigation. A couple are seen kissing passionately and undressing with no nudity. A stripper is seen in underwear and pasties. There is a brief scene of male posterior nudity in a non-sexual context. A woman is seen nude in the shower: breasts are visible but genitals are not. There are frequent non-graphic sexual references.
Profanity: There are seven sexual expletives, 34 uses of scatological terms, and infrequent uses of mild curses and terms of deity.
Alcohol / Drug Use: Adult characters are seen drinking socially. There are references to drug use, and individuals are seen under the influence of amphetamines and other stimulants. A large drug lab is seen.
Page last updated January 12, 2024
The Takedown Parents' Guide
The film’s antagonists are violent bigots who are using a combination of violence and politics to achieve their ends. Who are some real-life analogues to these characters? The film directly references Marine Le Pen. Who is she? How do her views align with those of the characters?
Home Video
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A comparable American action comedy is The Nice Guys. Other French action films include The Last Mercenary, Rogue City, and Les Miserables. Stillwater takes a very American look at the French justice system. If you like the French sense of humor, you might enjoy sci-fi comedy Bigbug. A French sci-fi film without the comedy is Oxygen. Director Louis Leterrier also worked on the films The Transporter, The Transporter 2, Unleashed, The Incredible Hulk, and Clash of the Titans.